A pedestrian bridge that will link 130 miles of Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor trail is coming to Jim Thorpe, and local businesses should be ready.

That was the message sent loud and clear last week at an informational session hosted by the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development in conjunction with the D&L Trail and Pocono Mountain Visitor’s Bureau.Around 30 people filled the Jim Thorpe train station to hear both an update on the $3.1 million project and find out how the bridge could affect them.“The one thing this bridge and the completed trail in this area is going to do is bring a different kind of customer,” said Elissa Garafalo, executive director of the D&L National Heritage Corridor. “Think about putting bike racks out front. A lot of these people are on bikes, so if they come to shop, they may want that item shipped to them. Do you have a place for them to charge their phone? These are all things to be thinking about now.”The 250-foot long trail, located between the south end of the Carbon County parking lot and just north of the Jim Thorpe wastewater treatment plant, is on schedule to go out to bid in March.According to H. Scott Everett, trail manager, it should be operational by mid-2017.“It depends on the weather,” he said. “Nicer weather could push it up and harsher conditions could slightly delay it. There are some provisions in the contract that impact the timeline. For example, no work is allowed during the Fall Foliage Festival in town.”The bridge will be paid for with $1.1 million of Pennsylvania Department of Transportation funds and $2 of Transportation Alternatives Program funding.The 165-mile D&L trail runs from Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County to Bristol in Bucks County. In Carbon County, it starts near Weatherly and winds through the Lehigh Gorge and into Packerton, through Lehighton and Weissport, and on to East Penn Township.Everett hopes more businesses along the trail can benefit like one in particular he noticed in Weissport.“I’ve been out working on the trail and I saw firsthand how the new Chantilly Goods in Weissport benefited from the word of mouth of people riding the trail,” he said. “I think that’s a great example of how this can work. They get all the advertisement they need from riders on social media.”The ice cream shop is a popular stop for those using the trail along the canal in Weissport.In Lehighton, a map of the downtown business district was placed on the trail with one goal in mind.“We’re trying to get those trail users up to First Street and in the stores,” Everett said. “We’re making progress. There will be an economic impact when this trail is completed.”According to Garafalo, the trail is 85 percent complete and the pedestrian bridge will go a long way to checking off the last 15 percent.There are two areas of the trail in Carbon County that have gaps. A project currently underway would connect the Weissport trailhead to Lehighton. It would be a share-the-road section.“There would be share-the-road signs along Bridge Street. It would be one of the few sections of the 165-mile trail that goes through a town using the streets,” Everett said.Another section would connect an Americans with Disabilities Act compatible route from behind the Castle Grill restaurant in Lehighton along the share-the-road section to a delineated trail leg near the wastewater treatment plant.The final portion would put an ADA section in from the end of the trail in East Penn Township, at Marvin Gardens, to Route 895.“I wake up every day thinking about how to complete this last 15 percent,” Garafalo said. “The low-hanging fruit is gone. But we have great support in Washington, Harrisburg and locally with the county commissioners. Living here, sometimes we forget what a gem we have here, and this trail will really enhance that.”